Severely injured, according to relatives, were Jerone Downs, 13, and Lawrence Scott, 8, of Lawndale.

William Coy, 41, of Hawthorne is being held in jail on suspicion of first-degree murder and drunk driving, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles said Coy had a clean driving record before Sunday's accident.

Coy's truck struck the five victims about 7 p.m. when he turned into a gas station at Inglewood Avenue and 160th Street. After veering away from the pumps, the pickup hit the young people and struck a shed, demolishing it.

The grandmother of four victims, including two who died, said those who survived described a scene of sudden terror.

Josie Murchison of Torrance was not at the gas station, but heard what happened from her injured 13- and 8-year-old grandchildren. They told her the driver tried to flee the scene, but was held down by bystanders until police and rescue workers arrived.

Most of those hit lived around the corner, on 159th Street, from where the accident occurred.

Lawrence Scott "ran home in shock, where his mother noticed blood on his shirt," Murchison said. "When she opened his shirt, he had a hole in his chest.

"All of the kids went to the store. They were on the way home when this happened." She said she spent part of Monday visiting the two grandchildren who survived the accident.

The 13-year-old underwent surgery Monday morning, but remained in critical condition at county Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The 8-year-old was upgraded from serious to stable condition at the same hospital.